CEO's Cat Lady [Complete]

Chapter 16

Chris had just gone to the HR Department to ask the current in-charge officer about a really important thing: Ms. Amy's home address. He figured that if he wouldn't be able to apologize now that she was gone in the company, he would just go see her in person. He couldn't quite go on his daily duties with his conscience telling him that he did something wrong. So he resolved that he would fix his mistake of striking Ms. Amy below the belt during his emotionally-charged tirade.

Unfortunately, the officer was in a meeting so he had to return to his cubicle empty-handed. Chris knew that he had to be careful in asking for this favor from the HR Department as Ms. Amy's home address was personal information. He would have to turn on his charm to the middle-aged officer when the time comes.

He was thinking of what to say to the HR officer when his phone suddenly rang. When he looked at the caller's number, he saw that it was Vance. Wondering why his friend called him up when he was supposed to be in his job interview, he immediately answered it.

"Hello, Vance? Why the sudden call?" Chris kept his voice low as some of his officemates in the department were busy typing documents.

"Chris…" There was a grave tone in Vance's voice. "I think I already know who passed my resume to the Ledesma Realty."

Chris's interest perked up, so he responded right away. "Really? Who is it?"

There was a brief silence in Vance's line before he responded. "I think it wass Ms. Amy. Chris, it's quite hard to believe, but Ms. Amy is the sister of Arthur Ledesma."

"Arthur Ledesma? Wasn't that the CEO of the Ledesma Group of Companies?" A crease formed in Chris's forehead as he whispered harshly into his phone.

"Yeah." Vance's intake of air was audible over the phone. "Chris, Ms. Amy is a rich girl in real life!"

To say that Chris was shocked was a gross understatement.

Esther was fuming…. Really fuming… Her insolent nephew was currently having a press conference in front of the old Ledesema General Hospital and she wasn't informed at all. It wouldn't have been too much of a problem for her, if only her nephew did not show Amy to all attending press. Now, everyone knew the existence of the bastard child.

They had tried so hard to keep his late brother's reputation untarnished. Albert Ledesma was seen as a great businessman with a heart of gold, with his numerous charitable organizations and the highly commended corporate social responsibility practices of his companies. He won numerous awards as an upstanding citizen of the country. Even Esther was in awe of her late brother… until the time came when he was on his death bed six years ago. The flawless image that she had created for her older brother was instantly shattered when he revealed to Arthur and her that he had an illegitimate daughter that he kept secret for 20 years. His final request was for Arthur to find his missing sister and bring her back to the Ledesma clan.

Arthur, being the responsible son that he was, started the search right after his father was buried, on top of assuming the responsibility of running the business. The transition as the CEO was easy for her nephew. After all, he had been groomed as the heir since he was a child. As she had no child of her own, she had always thought that the inheritance would be divided only on the two of them. However, with the revelation that there was another one who could claim the Ledesma name, she felt that her position in the family could be threatened.

It took a year before they found Amy. Arthur had to use their vast family connections to find the daughter of a laundrywoman. She still didn't know how exactly Albert met a woman from such lowly station and had an affair with her when his wife was still alive. One thing was sure: the affair didn't last forever and her brother abandoned the woman and his illegitimate child.

When they found Amy, she was not what they were expecting at all. Some part of Esther thought that the illegitimate child would have been a young mother, another laundrywoman, or probably some vendor at the market. After all, what would one expect from a daughter of a laundrywoman? Since her brother abandoned the child, it was highly likely that the child grow up in poverty as well.

However, they were proven wrong because when they found Amy, she was a young HR officer newly hired in a publishing company. Her mother, Lita, had long left abroad to work as a domestic helper when Amy was 15 and never came back. She just sent Amy money once a month for her expenses when she was a student. When Lita met another man, she started a new family in Singapore and Amy was already living independently when she was found. It turned out, when Amy finally graduated from college, Lita also stopped sending money and that was why Amy had to find a job right away.

Esther was impressed with her niece's tenacity, but she still considered Amy bad news. After all, her discovery would open up a can of worms, as it would tarnish the reputation that the late Albert had built. And so, she talked to Arthur to convince him to let Amy's existence remain a secret. There was no use making it a big deal. If Esther would be the one to decide, she would seriously just pay off Amy to keep quiet forever.

Her nephew had other plans though. He brought Amy to the mansion and tutored her about the family history of the Ledesma clan, social function etiquette lessons for people in their stature, and most especially, the ins and outs of the company. It became clear to her that Arthur had plans on making Amy a fixture of their family while her niece seemed intent on belonging with them. She had been taking her lessons very seriously. Knowing that Arthur was planning to put her niece into work at their company, possibly as an executive, Esther secretly took Amy aside to tell her that with her level of competency right now, the image of the company would suffer. If she really wanted to help the Ledesma clan, she would have to stay quiet and away from the watchful eyes of the alta sociedad.

Amy easily understood her reasons and promised her that she would refuse Arthur's offers of position in the Ledesma conglomerate when he asked. When the topic was brought up at the dinner table, Amy declined her brother's offer. Because Arthur looked offended, Esther came up to the rescue and advised that more training would be good for Amy as it would buy her time to adjust into her new stature as a Ledesma. In the end, Arthur let Amy remain in the small publishing house that she worked at for the next five years. Esther considered delaying Amy as her little victory.

She knew that Arthur was up to something these past few months, but when he invited Amy to the mansion, she honestly thought that it would just be about the hospital (since it was passed on to Amy's name as stated by her late brother's will). She thought that Arthur was just informing Amy about its status and probably the upgrading works being done to it, or worse, he would transfer Amy into the hospital administration, so Esther immediately decided to busy herself with dealings of her own.

And now, little did she know that Arthur had planned something even more terrible than that: introducing Amy to the public. To make matters worse, Arthur never informed her about it and she had to find out on the TV. Esther was already bracing herself up for insistent journalists blowing up their phones for the next few days, but one thing was for sure… She would definitely give Arthur a piece of her mind when got home.

Amy was just expecting the normal orientation this Monday. She would meet up with her brother first to formalize things, and then they would drive to the hospital where she would meet the members of the board. Then she would start working immediately.

However, it seemed like this day was meant to be full of surprises. First, it was the realization that her little incident back at the resort could have had some consequences that might explain her weird behaviors these past few days. Just the thought was terrifying to her, as she wouldn't know how her brother would react to it, but she contented herself with the thought that at least it would not affect the Ledesma clan much as no one knew about her anyway.

But then, her brother Arthur just had to choose this day to finally introduce her to the public, which he did twice, at the main office, and at the hospital, where there were press people present. Amy had to force herself not to faint and be dignified at both occasions. She couldn't afford to humiliate her brother. So she posed for the cameras, answered the questions of the press, and attended the meeting while at the back of her mind, she was being tortured because of the possibility that she was pregnant. If it was true, how would she shield the Ledesma name from humiliation and scandal when the dignified "heiress" turned out to be a loose woman? The press would have a field day, considering that her revelation just turned her into a hot topic overnight.

Before she went ahead of herself out of fright, she decided that she would find out the truth first, and then plan what to do afterwards. What she was dreading most was her brother's reaction. After all, she did everything to make him proud of her, be worthy of the Ledesma name, and to prove her competency in the organization, especially because that was her aunt's biggest issue with her before. She was not even in that level yet, as when she became the HR Head on her own right, it was just in a small company as her brother said. But still, his decision to finally let her take part in their business told her that he thought that she was at least passable according to his high standards. But now, it seemed like she would botch it up.

When she went home, she made sure to dress up so that no one would recognize her easily. Thankfully, the press had not yet discovered her home address. With her Harley-Davidson bike and a matching black leather jacket, she was far from the Ledesma heiress that people saw today. That was how she bought her pregnancy test kit, and because she wanted to know the deal already, she went to the mall's powder room cubicle to pee on the stick. After two minutes, two lines appeared. She waited for the next ten minutes to see if it would change, but it didn't.

With her hands shaking, she wrapped the stick in plastic, and put it inside her jacket's pocket. She went back to the parking lot and retrieved her big bike to race back home. She needed to think of her next plans right away. It was when she was pulling up to her closed gate that she saw Jensen standing in front of it.

She took her helmet off and stepped down her motorbike. "Hi. Anything I can help you with?" She asked the guy.

"Good evening. I saw you on the news today." The man greeted her with a charming smile. "You didn't tell me you're quite famous."

"Oh." Amy's cheeks reddened. "That's nothing. It's my brother who's the famous one."

The tall guy chuckled. "I feel honored to have known you though."

Amy shook her head jokingly when she felt her surroundings spinning. Her knees felt weak and she knew she would hit the ground, if not for Jensen's quick reflexes to catch her.

"Hey, you okay?" There was concern in her friend's voice.

Amy squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head on Jensen's shoulder, if only for a little while. "Yeah. I'm sorry, you had to catch me again," she said, panting.

"It's alright. Have you eaten?"

Amy shook her head at his question. She had last eaten at lunch with her brother, before they went to a closed-door meeting with the members of the board of the Ledesma General Hospital.

"That's probably why you felt dizzy." Jensen remarked.

Amy knew the reason why, but she kept it to herself. Her condition had not yet sunk in her. She felt better so she slowly rose up, with a little help from the guy.

"Thanks," she told him with a hint of embarrassment.

"Don't mention it. Are you sure you're okay now?"

She tried to smile to reassure him. "Yeah. Do you want to go in?" She offered him.

Jensen agreed right away. "Sure."

They walked inside the gate when Jensen stopped and looked down. She stopped too and it was too late when she saw that the guy crouched down to pick up something that must have fallen from the pocket of her jacket.

"You're… You're pregnant?" He asked her with widened eyes while holding the plastic packet that contained the pregnancy test stick.

Amy turned pale and she felt like fainting again.